The invention concerns a miniature optical source and, in particular, a miniature optical source emitting at wavelengths in the visible light spectrum. The invention also concerns a method of construction of such a source.
Miniature sources emitting in the visible spectrum are of great interest for example in the field of optical recording/reading of information. In this case, shorter optical wavelengths permit a higher density of information storage.
Several solutions can be envisaged, such as the construction of a laser emitting visible light directly or using the principles of non-linear optics to generate an optical wave in the visible range from a wave in the short infrared.
It is clear that it is important to be able to design a miniaturized source. According to the invention, a solution is proposed which achieves these results by using the following technique: construction of a solid laser pumped by a diode laser, the active medium being also non-linear and having the form of a thin plate which can be optically coupled to the source of the pump without intermediate parts.